I've had experience with the 40J's & 40DC's. Personally I like the sound of the J's better. Sound alittle more aggressive w/a more focused midrange that cuts. IMO, the DC's don't tend to cut through the mix of a heavy guitar(s) as well as the J's.

Originally posted by rockandroller apparently the CS models have 'considerably more' magnetic pull, which could conceivably be a bad thing if you like yer pickups as close to the strings as possible.

also EMG recommends you run two 9Vs in series (18V system) to get maximum clean headroom with these pups.

I haven't done a head-to-head test with the regular DC model, but hope to try that in a week or two

Click to expand...

I thought the CS specifically had a weaker magnetic pull - and that seems like the effect putting a steel bar over the top of the magnets would have (it would channel more of the field through itself, less would go through the air and strings).

good point, and the EMG literature is a little vague about the specifics of those "Ceramic and Steel" pickups. I was going by what i found in their catalog....

(from EMG catalog) The shape and type of
magnet used in each EMG Pickup is
different. Ceramic magnets don't
affect the inductance of the coil but
have a much stronger magnetic
field. Alnico material exhibits less
magnetism yet greatly increases the
inductance of the EMG design.
Each has affect on the resultant
output and frequency response of
the pickup. The addition of steel
poles (either bar or screw/stud)
increase the inductance of the
pickup design and further change
the results.

and also extrapolating what little i remember about the effects of 'iron loading' a magnetic circuit:

"The ferromagnetic property of the iron core causes the internal magnetic domains of the iron to line up with the smaller driving magnetic field produced by the current in the solenoid. The effect is the multiplication of the magnetic field by factors of tens to even thousands. "

Go to a store and compare a Czech Spector to a US Bolt On. The bolt-on has a CSTW(coil splitabble) in the bridge, and the Czech has two DC's. Compare the bridge pups on both models for a fairly accurate comparison.